Alloy of iron and titanium.



NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTE J. ROSSI, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMESMACNAUGHTON, OF TAHAWUS, NEW YORK.

ALLOY OF IRON AND TITANIUM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,467, dated February24, 1903.

Application filed October 30, 1902. Serial No. 129,402. (No specimens.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, Anensrn J. RossI, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, city of New York, I

county of New York, and State of New York, have invented a certain newand useful Oompound or Alloy of Iron and Titanium, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of my present invention is the production as a new article ofan alloy or compound of iron and titanium containing novel proportionsof titanium, whereby is imparted to the alloy or compound qualities andcapacities hitherto unpossessed by alloys of this classt0 wi-t,thepossession of. a tinanium factor or element in such preponderance as torender the same industrially important for various purposes, whilenevertheless fusi ble under ordinary temperatures sufficient to meltiron or steel, whereby the said compound is utilizable for the seasoningwith titanium of ordinary iron or steel with uniformity, ease, and thecertainty of securing a homogeneous product, and such seasoning, so faras the iron-founder is concerned, becomes attainable by the use of mysaid novel compound without disturbing the usual conditions orprocedures with which the average Workman is now familiar-4. 6., withoutany special or novel preparation or manipulation by him of ingredientsor treatment thereof with any more than the present ordinary skill ofhis calling involved in, say, the familiar mixing of different grades ofpig-iron in the cupola or in operations involving the production ofsteel in the converter or open hearth. Y

I have discovered that the alloys of titanium and iron for which UnitedStates Letters Patent No. 609,466 were granted to me August23, 1898,andwhich alloys are characterized as containing not less than five percent. of titanium, are practically infusibleper se under the ordinarytemperatures sufficient to melt iron or steel, and that in those casesin which my said last-mentioned alloys are employed for seasoning ironwith titanium the latter becomes incorporated in the resulting productby dissolving at the temperatures mentioned in the bath of molten ironor in contact with it, analogously to the way in which platinum(likewise infnsible per 86 at such temperatures) is known to dissolve ina bath of molten iron or to fuse in contact with it, whereby may beproduced an iron con taining platinum. Therefore in order to insuresuccess'in the seasoning or titanizing of iron by the use of my saidalloys containing above five per cent. of titanium, and likewise thedesired homogeneity of the product, these alloys must preliminarily bereduced to the powdered state, or at least broken into small fragments,thus sometimes involving undesirable expenseowing to their hard andrefractory character, or, again, in certain cases--as, for instance,when operating in the ladle-stirring of the mixture becomes likewiserequisite, all of which necessitates special preparation and treatmentby the Workman, involving some inconvenience, the exercise of perhapsmore than his usual skill and attention, and thus more or less alsoundesirable expense, and this is especially the case when the operationsinvolved are conducted upon moderate amounts of metal in the smallerfoundries and plants. One of the causes contributing-to render thesemanipulations necessary under the circumstances mentioned consists,doubtless, in the comparatively low specific gravity of the alloy ofiron and titanium when high in percentage of titanium, the specificgravity of titanium being, for instance, 4.90, of an alloy containingten per cent. of titanium 5.60, of cast-iron seven, and of iron 7.78.

My present invention comprises as its essential characteristic theproduction of an alloy of iron and titanium containing the latter inWhat my recent experiments and discoveries have demonstrated to be therequired proportions for the purposes mentioned-that is to say, inexcess of two and not to exceed five per centum of titanium. This newalloy I designate my special titanic pig. This I produce by processesdescribed carbon as to result in a pig-iron having the requisiteproportion of titanium, as aforesaid, and subjecting the mixture untilthe requisite reactions have been thereby accomplished to the intenseheat produced by the electric current-say a heat of 3,500 Fahrenheit andit will be understood that the titanic acid in the mixture abovereferred to may be introduced in any convenient form-as, for instance,as contained in titaniferous iron ore or as rutile.

Any form of electrical device capable of producing the results describedmay be employed-as, for instance, a Siemens furnace of the typedescribed as early as 1S79or I have, for instance, used successfully forthis purpose a graphite furnace or crucible properly insulated by anoutside lining of refractory materials, such as magnesia bricks or thelike, properly secured by means of tierods, buckstaves, and the like,the crucible being properly connected with one of the poles of thecurrent by means of bus-bars, cables, or the like. Into this cruciblewas charged the mixture referred to, a more specific illustration ofwhich will be given presently. Over this charge I lowered a large carbonor bunch of carbons constituting the anode properly connected with thepositive pole of the current, the said anode being so disposed as toadmit of its being gradually raised or lowered by any convenientmechanism for accomplishing that purpose. The current being turned onwas passed through the materials to be reduced. The anode being ofsmaller diameter than the aperture of the crucible, additions could bemade to the charge from time to time as the reduction proceeded and thelevel ofthe mixture sank in the crucible. After the charge, with itsadditions, has been sufficiently exposed to the action of the currentand the resulting high temperatures my new alloy or special titanic pigis cast into proper molds through a suitable opening provided at thebottom of the crucible and the slag run out thereafter analogously tothe similar practice involved in the production of pig-iron in cupolasand blast- .furnaces, after which the crucible or furnace is chargedagain as before and the operation repeated indefinitely. I havesuccessfully produced my said special titanic pig by using as one of theingredients of the charge titaniferous iron ore containing on an averagetitanic acid, fifteen; oxid of iron, eighty; silica, 2.50; alumiua,1.50;magnesia,one; lime,trace; phosphorus, 0.017; sulfur, 0.045 per cent. Asthis ore, however, contained nine per cent. titanium, being too large apercentage for the purpose of producing the special titanic pig, I addedin this instance a proper proportion of another non-titaniferous ironore containing silica,5. 90; oXid ofiron, eightyfive; alumina, 3.50;lime,3.00; magnesia,l.90; sulfur, 0.052; phosphorus, 0.07 per cent. As

the titaniferous ore in this instance contained fifty-six per cent. ironand nine per cent. titanium and the non-titaniferous ore containedfifty-six per cent. iron and no titanium, I mixed one hundred pounds ofthe formerand two hundred and thirty pounds of the latter with theexpectation of securing by the process above described andafter allowingfor losses,unavoidable in all metallurgical operations, a resulting pigcontaining some four per cent. of titanium-say, theoretically, 4.30 percent, including carbon and silicon, in the pig-metal. The said oresproperly pulverized were mixed with the requisite quantity of carbon,preferably in the form of charcoal powder, necessary to secure thereduction of the oxids of iron and titanium, or, say, about sixty fivepounds of charcoal, and were charged into the crucible or electricfurnace, as above described, with about ten pounds of caustic lime addedto the mixture, in lieu of which I might have added its equivalent inlimestone.

The resulting pig metal produced by the treatment of the aforesaidmixture by the process above described contained silicon, 1.90;titanium, 4.00; carbon, 5.26; iron by diffusion, 8S.75total, one hundredper cent.

It will be observed that instead of using in admixture with thetitaniferous ore an ore free from titanium, as above described, for thepurpose of reducing the percentage ofititanium in the mixture to theproper figure for the purposes of my special titanic pig there mightwith equally beneficial results be substituted for the non-titaniferousores and in the required proportions ordinary pig-iron free fromtitanium.

As further illustrating the entire practicability of regulating withcertainty and exactness the percentage of titanium in the resulting pigby proportioning the respective ingredien ts of the charge upon atheoretic basis,I will add that in similar operations I have found thata mixture which would theoretically yield a titanic pig containing 3.80per cent.

titanium, treated as above described, resulted in a pig-iron containing3.68 per cent. titanium; also that on similarly treating another mixturewhich would theoretically yield a titanic pig containing 4.38 per cent.titanium I obtained 4.28 per cent. titanium in the pig, and from anothermixture which should have yielded 2.8 per cent. titanium I obtained 2.65per cent. in the resulting pig-iron.

My new alloy or special titanic pig is now ready to be used for thetitanizing or seasoning of iron containing no titanium.

It is manifest that should my special titanic pig contain, say, lessthan two per cent. of titanium it would prove scarcely available for thepurposes in hand on any industrially economical basis, since, amongother reasons, too great a bulk thereof would be required to produce therequisite seasoning, and I am therefore of the opinion that it ispreferable in all instances that the percentage of titanium should benot less than four per cent. The seasoning required is accomplished byintroducing into the metal to be seasoned while either cold in thechargeor in molten condition the requisite proportion of my specialtitaniferous pig which, among other things, owing to its percentage oftitanium, as before explained, will under the ordinary and usualtemperatures required for the melting of iron employed in foundry-workand without preliminary treatment or other manipulation melt with thesame facility as the ordinary non-titanife rous pig-iron with which itis associated.

To secure the required titanizing of iron, for instance, my specialtitanic pig is charged solid into the cupola and in its original andunbroken form as pigs or ingots, (the same as any other pig-iron nottitanic,) together with the pig-iron to be seasoned with titanium, carebeing taken to regulate the quan tity of the titanic pig according toits percentage of titanium and the total mass of the mixture, so as tosecure in the product the required percentage of titanium. The cupola isthen run in all respects in the ordinary manner, including theemployment of the same temperatures as in the case of ordinary iron,tapped as usual, the resulting product flowing out into the ordinaryreceiving-ladle, from which the pouring-ladles are filled for anypurpose of casting whatsoever, or, if steel is to be made, the contentsof the cnpola 11. 6., the molten titanized pig-iron-are run directlyinto the converter. Again, if my special titanic pig is desired to beused in the open-hearth furnace it is in the required quantity chargedinto that also, together with the non -titanic pig-iron, and the mixturetreated in all respects according to the usual practices of suchfurnaces the same as though no titanic pig were being smelted.

I am aware that pig-iron produced from titaniferous ores under suchtemperatures as are attainable in the blast-furnace has been claimed tocontain sometimes some titanium; but the proportion of the latter thusattainable has been invariably very small, hardly reaching a fewhundredths of one per centum, more exceptionally a few tenths, andwhenever, and abnormally and fortuitously only, such quantities as one,or even one and onehalf per cent. of titanium in iron have been observedin the products of experimental work or even of the blast-furnace, thepres ence thereof has been due not to the direct reducing action of thecarbon on the titanic oxid, since carbon cannot at the temperatures ofthe blast-furnace secure such reduction, which requires the intense heatof a powerful current, but to indirect causes,irregular, un-

reliable, dependent upon special or accidental conditions, such as areuncontrollable by the founder and which may often interfere with theproper and regular running of the furnace.

So far as I am informed, all efforts to introduce pure metallic titaniuminto iron in greater proportion than two per centum by the treatment of.the ores in crucibles without the use of the electric current havefailed. In fact, in many cases no trace of titanium has beendiscoverable by analysis in the so-called titanic product, and even whensuch a percentage has been supposed to have been observed the analysishas shown that the titanium was not present as pure metallic titanium,as in the case of my special titanic pig, but in combination with carbonand nitrogen as nitrid or cyano nitrid of titanium, being products whichhave long previously been mistaken for titanium, and the presence ofwhich tends further to demonstate that the reduction of the oxid oftitanium at temperatures attainable in the crucible by a fire or even inthe blast-furnace is not due to a direct action of carbon on the titanicoxid, but to some special, accidental, uncontrollable, uncertain, andunreliable conditions, it being notable that the percentage of titaniumin the ore thus treated has no influence whatever upon the amount oftitanium thus fortuitously found in the resulting pig. On the otherhand, said Letters Patent of the Unit'ed States No. 609,466 were grantedto me August 23, 1898, for an article of manufacture consisting of acompound of iron and titanium containing iron in the proportion of notless than ten per centum of the mass and titanium in not less than fiveper centum of the mass. I do not wish, therefore, to be understood asclaiming as any part of the invention hereby sought to be covered byLetters Patent eitherof the aforesaid compounds of iron and titanium inproportions differing from those to which my present claim isspecifically limited, constituting a novel article unproduced andunsuggested,

'so far as I am aware,'prior to my invention thereof and possessing thenovel capacities and qualities, as compared with previous com- AUGUSTEJ. ROSSI.

Witnesses:

PHILIP C. PEOK, G. G. MEASURES.

